Adobe Illustrator

Note : This page has been translated into English from French by a machine translation tool

If you wish to create a logo or visuals related to a brand, it is strongly recommended that you do not use image processing software such as Adobe Photoshop to design them. Indeed, the characteristic of this type of software is to create raster images that is to say composed of pixels which will make it totally impossible to distribute them on posters or billboards of large size without considerably degrading the quality, unless you have an initial file with an extremely high resolution which is not optimal, as you will agree. This is one of the reasons why vectorial drawing becomes indispensable in some cases. And who says vectorial drawing, says Adobe Illustrator…

Before starting, we invite you if necessary to consult our article on DTP in which we present in more detail the specificities of the two types of images that we have just mentioned, i.e. raster-based and vector-based images.

But let’s come to our subject… Adobe Illustrator is vector graphics software created in 1987 and included in the Adobe Creative Cloud Suite (see our article Adobe Creative Cloud suite for more information). You can also purchase a subscription to take advantage of the single software license whether you’re a Windows or macOS enthusiast. Adobe Illustrator may also soon be available on the iPad, as it is already available for what might be considered its cousin, Adobe Fresco.

So what can you do with Illustrator ? In particular, it allows you to create visuals for online publications such as websites or mobile applications. But as we mentioned, it can also be used to create elements that can be used for printing such as icons, logos, editorial illustrations or even advertising posters. We can also imagine that you use the software to design the packaging of your products.

Adobe Illustrator offers you tools to create simple shapes such as rectangles, ellipses and gradients. The famous feather tool allows you to create free shapes with straight lines and curvature effects controlled and precise. Finally, you can also draw freehand for even more freedom. But choosing Illustrator also means being able to transform any idea into a creation that will retain all its precision regardless of the size of the print run. If you don’t want to start from scratch but want to start your project with a solid foundation, you can import a visual from Adobe Capture (see our article on Adobe Capture for more information) to use as a starting point or load a vector object from Adobe Stock, for example.

It is extremely rare that in a logo or visual there is no text or at least letters. Here again, thanks to Illustrator you will be able to choose from a multitude of fonts at your disposal, the number of which is extended thanks to the integration with Adobe Fonts, whose fonts are directly available in Illustrator. If you are not happy with the fonts offered, you can create your own characters to give the desired style to your lettering either by creating it in the software and adding effects on the letters or by importing lettering that you have drawn freehand.

Finally, Illustrator integrates seamlessly into the Creative Cloud Suite and allows you to import projects developed there into Photoshop, InDesign, Premiere Pro, XD or Adobe After Effects. You can store all your creations in the Cloud, making them accessible wherever you are, whenever you need them and including the latest modifications you have made.

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